I just want to post "bleh" since I have a really large migraine right now.
I have been phoning back and forth to the legalisation office (Foreign Commonwealth Office) to get small details that I am filling in to get 2 documents legalised. It will cost me £60 for both of these documents to be legalised. The cost of sending the documents I am not sure of yet. But the headache begins here. I need to then get the FCO to send the documents after they have been legalised and stamped to the Taipei Representative Office. I haven't done much posting before, so I am not exactly sure how to do all this perfectly without screwing anything up. I think I am doing things right, but there is always that feeling you are sending of documents which you'll never receive back, because somewhere in the process you screwed up.
Just obtaining the address in English, where I live was a pain in the butt, but I believe I managed to get the correct address. If not, the address will also be in Chinese. Anyway's after the FCO send the documents (Once they are legalised) to the Taipei Representative Office in the U.K, they need to stamp it. – They charge a fee, so within the envelope I send to the FCO, I will need to attach a few postal orders or bankers drafts to pay for the document to be firstly sent from the FCO legalisation office in Kent to London to the Taipei Representative Office. (I already paid the £60 online through the government website the FCO has, but that is just for the stamping and verification of said documents) Then I need to include a £28 payment in a postal order or bankers draft to the Taipei Representative Office in the U.K. to pay for their legalisation/verification of the documents. It costs £10 for each document at the TRO but then an £8 fee is charged to send the documents back to my Taiwan address where I am currently living.
As you can see, it is a little complicated. But that isn't the fact why I am getting a little pissed off. I am just scared I am sending these important documents off and they can easily get lost in the post and I can possibly never see them again. Then what the hell am I going to do? I won't be able to become a Taiwanese citizen which is what I want.
The other thing that I don't know about yet is when I will be conscripted for the army. Is it straight after I become a citizen or what? I was hoping they give a few months of freedom when just becoming a Taiwanese citizen and hoping they don't immediately draft you into the army. I am on a language course at a university called Feng-Chia and I want to do level 1 Chinese so I can at least understand and possibly communicate with others in the army. I also want to join the Taiwanese Marines, which I will probably need to know how to speak Chinese. But I really just want to join the Taiwanese Marines for the exercise and change in mentality. I want to do something hard and challenging if that makes sense and I want to be a hard worker.
I heard the Taiwanese military is especially easy for foreigners since the military drill instructors can't tell you to do much since they can't speak much English. Which causes a problem and they will leave you to do easy jobs. (Just what I have heard) – Which is not what I want to do. I want to do this military training for its purpose of making shrimps into hardcore motherf"&2kers. I feel I am too soft, which is a good thing, but it can also be a bad thing. I just want to bulk up and be honest with myself and I feel this can help me get through a lot of trouble. I want this to be a real challenge for me. But perhaps I won't be accepted into the Marines, which is OKAY, I think if I try hard enough in the army I can still bulk up, but I feel it will be too easy for me. I don't mind the waking up, being shouted at and the exercise which I do anyway's till I drop dead most of the time.
I am the fittest I have ever been in my life and I also putting on a lot of muscle at the gym. I think in 2 months time I will be more than ready to join the army. But the problem is not fitness, the actual problem is the language barrier. Perhaps in 2 months time I will be able to understand and perhaps speak basic Mandarin. But I really want an extra 3 months at Chinese, at level 1 Chinese at Feng-Chia University. I have been studying basic level 0 Mandarin, so I can read some characters and write quite a few, but I still suck at Chinese.
I think if they gave me the opportunity to study one more month, I could perform much better in the military and this would help them, since I think I would be able to understand these instructors much better. – The fact I will be conscripted into the army for 12 months makes this a big thing in my life, so I need to be able to at least speak to others who might not know English. There really is that element of worry.
